Go Here, Not There: Tourist Attraction Alternatives

Venice Beach is known mostly for its wacky inhabitants who stroll the boardwalk along Ocean Front Walk. The outdoor freak show is entertaining for about ten minutes, but eventually it starts feeling a little creepy. If you prefer a little serenity with your surf, head north from the Malibu Pier to the rugged, isolated beaches between Broad Beach and Decker Canyon roads. El Matador Beach, a secluded little cove with funky rock formations and plenty of parking, is a great place for a picnic or to catch the sunset. If you're looking for sun and sand but not necessarily solitude, head south from Malibu instead, to Manhattan Beach, a family-friendly stretch of sand with great surfing, a playground, and volleyball courts. This popular spot can be crowded, but the city does a stellar job of keeping the place pristine. And there are plenty of cool shops and fun cafés to explore on Manhattan Beach Boulevard, the area's main drag. —Audrey Davidow

Magnolia cupcakes are to New York what Café du Monde beignets are to New Orleans: a cavity-inducing cliché. Instead, head a few blocks down to 243 Bleecker Street and pick up some excellent, authentic cannolis and an espresso at Rocco's Pastry Shop (243 Bleecker Street, 212-242-6031), one of the few vestiges of when this part of the Village was populated by Italian immigrants. If you've got your heart set on cupcakes, hail a cab to Cupcake Café (545 Ninth Avenue, 212-465-1530), which has been baking them a lot longer than Magnolia and still gets them right—moist, huge, and with real buttercream frosting. The main location on Ninth Avenue, near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, isn't too convenient, but there's an outpost nestled in the charming children's bookstore Books of Wonder (18 W. 18th Street) in Chelsea.—Peter J. Frank

The Saqqara Pyramids site is far less crowded than Giza Plateau, despite the fact that you can clamber into a small pyramid and wander inside tombs more beautiful than many of the more famous ones in Luxor. For an excellent introduction to ancient Egyptian architecture, start with the Imhotep Museum; it’s devoted to the vizier of the same name who built the world’s first stone monuments and invented the pyramid tomb. Next, head for the tomb of the vizier Mereruka, whose scenes of daily life—fishing, bread making, pet hyenas—are carved in still-sharp stone relief on the inside walls. The shared tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, manicurists to the pharaoh Unas, is one of the most exquisite and mysterious monuments in all Egypt—the exact relationship between the two embracing men remains lost to time. —Susan Hack

Choquequirao

Dubbed “the next Machu Picchu” and “Machu Picchu’s little sister,” Choquequirao offers something that big sis has long outgrown: solitude. The site is sufficiently unknown and so hard to get to (two days of uphills and downhills on the way in, the same going out) that you may well have the place to yourself. On the average trek, you’ll run into a few backpackers, the occasional orchid thief (yes, the flora is that good) and—one hopes—a tipped-off ranger. The ruins, which are surrounded by snowy peaks and lush slopes, were sacred to the Incas. I used Habitats Peru, which can set up a five-day camping trek—and the attendant guide, porter, and supplies.

Ok, maybe you don't want to skip the Louvre entirely, but this has to be one of the most generous, intimate, and overlooked museums in the world: More than 6,000 of the fantastical, otherworldly paintings and sketches of Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau are on display here, in the museum he designed himself and which occupies his former studio and home. Located in the ninth arrondissement, the museum’s immense galleries, connected by an elegant spiral staircase, have been left virtually untouched since Moreau’s death in 1898. His souvenir-filled study and his living quarters have a wonderful, frozen-in-amber feel about them, as if he’s just stepped out for a moment to pick up a fresh tube of paint (14 rue de la Rochefoucauld; 33-1-48-74-38-50). —Kevin Doyle